<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Heather by Thousand_Springs</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504030">Heather</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thousand_Springs/pseuds/Thousand_Springs'>Thousand_Springs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sweet Elite (Visual Novel)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Feels, F/F, Hurt No Comfort, Unrequited Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:47:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,311</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thousand_Springs/pseuds/Thousand_Springs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Her hair was blonde. </p><p>It wasn’t like the first thing Neha noticed in others was their hair. Not at all. But for some reason that was the most noticeable aspect of the girl’s appearance the first time she saw her, when she smiled and told her that maybe she could try some baking soda to clean the new coffee stain in her shirt.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Karolina Nováková/Scholar, Neha Rao/Karolina Nováková (one-sided)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Heather</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was born because of the song "Heather" from Conan Gray. </p><p>This is on OJ for showing me his songs... you know what you did.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The moment Karolina’s face changed from her annoyed face to a blank expression, Neha knew that though their argument was far from over, there was no way they were going to resolve it right now.</p><p>“You know what? I don’t need this,” her friend said, already turning away to go in the opposite direction that they were supposed to go to.</p><p>“Don’t do this, Karol. Don’t push me away,” she said, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.</p><p>She stared at the retreating back of her best friend, feeling like something had broken between the two of them. And she had no idea of how to fix it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The argument hadn’t been serious at first. Neha hadn’t tried to pry either, but these days she was feeling more and more how the time Karol and her spent together was getting shorter every day. She didn’t want to let it bother her, after all, it simply could be because of how busy the both of them were, but she knew it was a flimsy excuse, not that Karol was providing one anyway.</p><p>The real reason, the one she was trying to hide from, was not a something, but rather a someone.</p><p>Someone she knew very well.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Her hair was blonde.</p><p>It wasn’t like the first thing Neha noticed in others was their hair. Not at all. But for some reason that was the most noticeable aspect of the girl’s appearance the first time she saw her, when she smiled and told her that maybe she could try some baking soda to clean the new coffee stain in her shirt.</p><p>She hadn’t paid a lot of attention to her then, after all, she was distracted and had a lot of other things in her mind. She had no idea of how much that scholarship student would manage to make her way into her life and the life of everyone close to her.</p><p>Sometimes she thought that had been foolish of her, but there was truly no way she could have known how much it would change everyone, how much it would change her.</p><p>The girl was bubbly, everytime she smiled it was either soft like the warm caress of the morning heat over skin or excited beaming, like the sun itself had given her its blessing and she was sunshine in human form. She wore a yellow sweater under the mandatory jacket of the uniform. Yellow. Always yellow. Everything about <em>Heather</em> seemed to shine with the color. Like happiness.</p><p>She was kind and sweet, always looking out after others and trying to help even when logically she could have just ignored every problem that wasn’t hers. Like the time she had listened to her during the department competition, even though that could have costed her valuable time and the respect of her peers.</p><p>She was fierce and brave, standing up for Tadashi when the rumors about him were flying everywhere. Never letting herself be stepped on by Karol when her best friend was being driven by her contempt for scholarship students. </p><p>She was talented and creative, figuring out in the spot a way to save the competition for her department, with enough skills to make it look like it had been planned all along if you weren’t paying close attention to the way the smiles on stage seemed a little too tight and the way Heather’s voice trembled just a little while speaking.</p><p>She was <em>Arlington’s sweetheart</em>. Every decent person in the school had a soft spot for her. She did too, in a way; after all, she had been given the girl’s support and help in some of her worse moments up to date. All without being asked for something in return. The girl didn’t even seem to mind when she was a little too cold or snippy with her.</p><p>Neha liked her, truly, she could bring a smile to her face so, so easily. She brought people together with an ease that she didn’t seem to realize, even if everyone could feel the magnetic pull she projected. Neha liked her, there was no reason to lie about that.</p><p>Except because sometimes, when she allowed herself to really think about it, she <em>hated </em>her.</p><p>She hated the way Karol’s eyes shined with interest at the way the other girl stood up to her.</p><p>She hated the way Karol’s scowl seemed a bit too soft to be authentic every time <em>she</em> was brought up in a conversation.</p><p>She hated the way Karol’s arm was so close it was touching Heather’s every time they sat together.</p><p>She hated the way Karol’s smiles around the other girl were getting more and more sincere by the day.</p><p>She hated the way Karol’s first choice of company was starting to be more Heather than her.</p><p>She hated the obvious way in which Heather seemed just a little too infatuated with her best friend.</p><p>She hated the way her personality seemed to bring down Karol’s walls without a major effort.  </p><p>She hated her, but she hated herself even more every time Heather smiled at her, oblivious of the unjustified feelings that her friend had towards her in the morning, when Karol barely talked with her, too obviously focused on a message on her phone, during lunch, when Karol chose to put her seat closer to Heather’s instead of hers like she used to do before, at night, when she was alone with her thoughts, allowed to remember again and again the infatuated smile in Karol’s face while she watched Heather tell a silly anecdote about her dad.</p><p>It made her feel  the ugly burn of jealously. And she hated it.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“What’s wrong, Neha?”</p><p>When she looked up, she was not surprised in the slightest to see Heather’s concerned eyes looking at her, likely trying to figure out if she was sick or stressed and if there was something she could do about it.</p><p>“Yeah, you look down today. Are you coming up with something, girl?” she turned to her best friend, but couldn’t hold her gaze for more than a few seconds, so she decided to stare at her food again.</p><p>“No… don’t worry. I’m just not feeling really hungry right now,” she said, aware that they could probably see through the lie. Before they could say anything though, she added. “I’m going to go to bed early. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”</p><p> She didn’t look back, but she could feel them staring at her.</p><p>Later that night, when she was already in bed, her eyes closed and trying and failing to fall asleep, she heard the distinctive voices of the two girls just outside the door. She couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but Karol seemed to be using that witty tone of hers, probably with a smug smile as well. Heather was laughing. She pulled the covers over herself a little more and turned so she didn’t have to face Karol’s side of the room.</p><p>The door opened. She could almost picture Karol’s hesitance before she finally closed the door. Karol didn’t hesitate. Not didn’t use to before anyway.</p><p>“Neha? Are you awake?” she asked softly. Her only reply was the silence of the night. After a few seconds, she went on with her night routine, apparently trying to be as silent as possible.</p><p>Karol finally got under her sheets. All that could be heard in the room was the soft breathing of two friends that had slowly drifted away from each other.</p><p>In her side of the room, Neha let a few tears fall from her eyes. She could indulge herself, just for this moment.</p><p>Tomorrow she would have to deal with the day’s new challenges, all while stopping the whispers from her mind. But just for this moment, she allowed one of them to slip into her mind.</p><p>
  <em>I wish I was Heather. </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>